ITC Students Get TRENZ Experience

International Travel College of New Zealand (ITC) students recently had the opportunity to highlight their skills and gain valuable industry knowledge at New Zealand’s premier tourism trade event – TRENZ 2013.

TRENZ 2013 ran from Sunday 21 – Wednesday 24 April at Auckland waterfront’s Cloud and Shed 10 and comprised an opening function, the Auckland Airport International Speaker programme, workshops, and a farewell ‘Taste of New Zealand’ dinner held at Ponsonby Central.

Inu – The TRENZ bar – was also open at select times during the event to provide opportunities for networking and meetings.

Michelle Chatfield, ITC’s Campus Manager – City, says the students took on a number of important roles at the event, including meeting and greeting delegates and assisting them with general queries. They also helped with setting up and packing out the trade sites.

“Our students were just fantastic,” says Michelle. “They were enthusiastic about helping in any way they could. Working at these kind of events is a great deal of fun if you are prepared to get in stuck and do what is needed. You need to be able to think and respond quickly to a number of different queries and situations.”

It was also a chance for the students to see the tourism industry in action.

“This is one of the largest tourism events in New Zealand,” says Michelle. “We are proud that each time TRENZ is held in Auckland the organisers, Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand, approach us to provide students to help at the event. The students were able to meet representatives from national and international travel organisations. It was a real eye-opener for them to see what a range of opportunities the industry offers.”

ITC has been a premium supplier of full-time and part-time training programmes for the airline, travel and tourism industries since 1996, and has campuses in Botany and central Auckland. The college is committed to providing real-world experiences as part of its training.

“It’s one of the reasons our students have such good job placement rates,” says Michelle. “They are given plenty of opportunities to showcase their skills to the companies that will ultimately hire them, and it gives them a real feel for what working in the airline, travel and tourism industry is all about.”